Question: Has the Prayer Lost its Power?

abjad

AlHamd Li'Laah
Brothers in Islam! Undoubtedly you often ask yourselves: Why is it that the Prayer,
good and beneficial as it is, seems to make no difference to our lives? Why does it
neither improve our morals, nor transform us into a force dedicated to Allah? Why do
we continue to live disgraced and subjugated?
 

uniqueskates

Rabbe Zidni Illma
:bismillah1:
:salam:


Brothers in Islam! Undoubtedly you often ask yourselves: Why is it that the Prayer, good and beneficial as it is, seems to make no difference to our lives? Why does it neither improve our morals, nor transform us into a force dedicated to Allah? Why do we continue to live disgraced and subjugated?

My view akhi,
Do you feel scared, or feel fear, or feel blessed to stand in front of Allah SWT? Do you feel the essence of every line of Surah you recite? Do you feel what it is like to cry when your head is down? or do you feel that Allah SWT is in front of you when you pray? Do you beat the whispers of shaitan during your Salah? At times maybe. Majority -> NO!

Our hearts have hardened. They have become black due to sins. We forget that only Salah is not Islam. It is a part (of course a major part!) of Islam. We take for granted that we are residents of Jannah. We want Jannah, we want Allah SWT's mercy and blessing on us, but we don't want to follow what HE says.

But there came after them successors who neglected prayer and pursued desires; so they are going to meet evil - [Suram Maryam - 59]
Peace.

P.S - Even sisters can reply :D
 

Janaan

ربنا اغفر لنا ذنوبنا
Staff member
Assalaamu `alaikum,
maashaa'Allaah, brothers. Very thought-provoking posts.

No way, prayer hasn't lost its power at all. It's us beings that have become lost. If taking 15 minute breaks just 5 times a day has become such a burden on us then certainly we are not worthy of being able to enjoy that peace and tranquility that accompanies every single meeting that Allaah `azza wa jall has invited us to. May Allaah aid us all in this journey to perfecting our salawaat.

P.S - Even sisters can reply!

Phew! That's good to know, akh. I was worried there for a bit thinking that this was maybe a no-females-allowed-in-here thread.

(Joking) hopefully the brother forgot to mention us on accident?
 

abjad

AlHamd Li'Laah
the splendor and beauty of the garden is for those who can see;
a blind man cannot perceive any splendor and beauty;
for him even the existence of the garden is meaningless.

asalaam aleykum


thank you brothers and sisters
 

Aida1

Junior Member
Another sister here ;)
I believe that prayer does in fact has a major impact on our lives. The fact that you stop whatever you are doing, stop obsessing over this dunya, and think about Allah (swt) and his Prophet (pbuh), makes a huge difference in how you think and act in this life. It does make you conscious of the way you behave, act and speak. Because of that it certainly does improve our morals. Only if you 'pray' like a robot, without thinking about what you are doing, and just going through the motions, only then indeed it makes no difference. But to me, that isn't really praying..

:salah: :dua:
 

abjad

AlHamd Li'Laah
The usual answer will be that you are not offering the Prayer regularly or in the manner
prescribed by Allah and the Messenger. Such an answer may not satisfy you. I shall,
therefore, try to explain the matter in some detail.

Parable of the Clock

Look at the clock fixed to the wall: there are lots of small parts in it, joined to each
other. When you wind it, all the parts start working and, as these parts move, the
results appear on the clock face outside it which you observe. Both hands move to
denote each second and each minute. The purpose of the clock is to indicate correct
time. All those parts which are necessary for this purpose have been made so that each
of them moves as required. Only when all the parts have been assembled correctly and
the clock wound up properly will it begin fulfilling the purpose for which it is made.
If you do not wind it, it will not show the time. If you wind it but not according to the
prescribed method, it will stop or, even if it works, it will not give the correct time. If
you remove some of the parts and then wind it, nothing will happen. If you replace
some of the parts with those of a sewing machine and then wind it, it will neither
indicate the time nor sew the cloth. If you keep all the parts inside the case but
disconnect them, then no part will move even after winding it up. The presence of all
the parts will not serve the purpose for which the clock is made because you will have
disrupted their arrangement as well as their connection.

In all these situations, both the existence of the clock and the act of winding it become
useless, although an observe from a distance cannot say that it is not a clock or that
you are not winding it. He will surely consider that it is a clock and will expect it to be
useful as a clock. Similarly, when from a distance he observes you winding it, he will
take it as a genuine effort on your part to do the job, hoping to notice the result which
come from winding the clock. But how can this expectation be fulfilled when what looks
like a clock from a distance has in reality lost is ‘existence’?
 

abjad

AlHamd Li'Laah
Aim of Muslim Ummah

Imagine Islam like this clock. Just as the purpose of the clock is to indicate the correct
time, so the aim of Islam is that you should live in this world as the vicegerents of God,
as witnesses of God unto mankind and as standard-bearers of truth. You must
yourselves follow the commandments of God and bring all other people under Him:

You are indeed the best community brought forth for mankind: you enjoin the doing of
right and forbid the doing of wrong, and you believe in God
(Al ‘Imram 3: 110).

And thus We have made you a just community, that you might be witnesses unto
mankind (al-Baqarah 2: 143).

God has promised those of you who believe and do righteous deds that He will surely
make you to accede to power on earth (al-Nur 24: 55).

And fight them, until there is no rebellion [against God], and all lsubmission is to God
alone (al-Anfal 8: 39).

Wholeness of Islamic Teachings

To fulfill this purpose, various parts as were required, like those of the clock, have been
brought together in Islam. Beliefs and principles of morality; rules for day-to-day
conduct; the rights of God, of His slaves, of one’s own self, of everything in the world
which you encounter; rules for earning and spending money; laws of war and peace;
principals of government and limits of obedience to it---all these are parts of Islam. As
in a clock, they are linked to each other in such a way that as soon as the winding is
done, every part starts moving and, with the movement of all these parts, the desired
result is obtained. Rule of God’s ;aw in the world, domination of Islam, start
manifesting just as, with the movement of the parts of the clock in front of you, the
time appears on its face.
In order to fasten together different parts of the clock, screws and small pieces of
metal have been used.
Similarly, to join all the parts of Islam together, there is an arrangement called the
Jama ‘ah or organization. Muslims should organize themselves, and have leaders
equipped with proper knowledge and endowed with taqwa; the brains should help
them and the limbs should obey them, as they all strive to live under God.
When all the parts have been brought together and property assembled, regular
winding is necessary to set them in motion and to continue their movement: Salah
which is offered five times a day provides that winding, creating the energy which sets
an Islamic life in motion. Cleaning this clock is also necessary: fasting observed for
thirty days a year cleanes hearts and morals. Lubrication, too, is required: Zakah is
like the oil which is applied to its parts once a year. Then it is also necessary to
overhaul it periodically: Hajj is that overhauling which should be performed at least
once in a lifetime. And the more often it is done, the better.

Abusing the Clock

The processes of winding, cleaning, lubricating and overhauling are of use only when all
the parts are present in the frame, when they are linked in the order designed by the
clock-maker, and when all are so trained that immediately on winding they start
moving and begin showing results.
Alas, today the situation has become very different. For a start, the very Jama ‘ah, the
organizational structure, which was supposed to link the parts of the clock together has
ceased to exist. The result is that all the fittings have come apart, each has gone its
own way. Everybody does whatever takes his fancy. There is nobody to question
anything. Everyone is autonomous. If someone wants to follow the Islamic code, he
can; if he does not want to, he need not.
Since even this so-called freedom has not satisfied you, you have pulled out many
parts of the clock and in their place put anything and everything: a spare part from a
sewing machine, perhaps, or from a factory or from the engine of a car. You call
yourselves Muslims, yet you render loyal service to Kufr, yet you take interest, you
insure your lives, you file false law suits, your daughters, sisters and wives are
forsaking Islamic manners and your children are being given secular materialistic
educations.
Some have become disciples of Gandhi; others are following Lenin. Which
un-Islamic gadget is there that you have not fixed into the frame of the clock of Islam?

Despite this, you expect the clock to work when you wind it! And you suppose that
cleaning, lubricating and overhauling it will also be of use. With a little reflection,
however, you should see that in the condition to which you have reduced the clock you
can wind it, lubricate it, and overhaul it, for the whole of your lives without any effect.
Nothing will happen until you remove the parts brought in from other applicnaces,
replace them with the original parts, and restore the original priorities. Then, and only
then, will the winding and so forth produce any results.
Why Worship Rites Are Ineffective
This state of affairs is the real reason why your Salah, Sawn, Zakah and Hajj make
no impact upon your lives. First, there are so few among you who perform these acts
of worship. Due to the dissolution of Islamic Jama ‘ah everybody has become
autonomous. Whether you fulfil your obligations or not, there is nobody to care. Nor do
those who do apparently carry out their obligations do so in a proper manner. They are
not constant in attending the congregational Prayer. People are selected to lead the
Prayers in the mosque simply because they are fit for no other work: people who exist
on the free bread doled out to mosques, who are uneducated, who lack moral caliber.
How can congregations led by them turn you into the leaders of mankind? Similar is
the situation regarding your Fasting, Almsgiving and Pilgrimages.
Despite all these facts, you may argue, there are nonetheless many Muslims who do
discharge their religious duties conscientiously. Why does that make no difference?
But, as I have said, when the parts of the clock have become unhinged and numerous
foreign bodies have been inserted in it, it makes no difference if you wind it or not,
clean it or not, lubricate it or not. From a distance it does look like a clock. An outside
observer may say: This is Islam and you are Muslims. But what he cannot see is how
badly its inside machinery has been tampered with.
Our Deplorable Condition
Brothers! You understand why it is so that you pray and fast and yet remain trampled
under the heel of cruel tyrants. But, should I tell you something even more distressing?
Although most of you no doubt regret this situation but, I would say, 999 people out
of 1000 are not prepared to change their situation. They have no urge in their hearts to
assemble the clock of Islam again properly. They are afraid that any such
reconstruction would mean that their own favourite imported parts would be thrown
out, and this they are not prepared to accept. They are afraid that any tightening of
various parts would means that they will have to discipline themselves, and this they
are not willing to undertake.
Instead, they prefer that the clock remains a piece of decoration on the wall for people
to be shown and told how wonderful Islam is, what miracles it can perform. Those who
are supposed to love this clock more than others would like to wind it repeatedly and
zealously and to clean it most laboriously; but they want to do nothing to reset its part
properly or tighten them, nor will they seek to get rid of the extraneous parts.
I wish I could endorse your attitudes and behavious, but I cannot say anything which I
believe is wrong. I assure you that it if, in addition to praying five times a day, you
were to offer Tahajjud (predawn), Ishraq (post-sun rise) and Chasht (midmorning)
Prayers, read the Qur’an for hours every day, and observe, over and above
Ramadan, extra fasts for five and a half months in the remaining eleven months, you
would still achieve nothing. What is needed is to restore the original parts to the clock
and fix them firmly. Then even the little necessary winding will make it work smoothly;
and the minimal amount of required cleaning and lubrication will be needed.

Wa ma ‘alayna illa ‘l-balagh
There is no responsibility on us except conveying the truth.
 

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Fatima Amenda

Junior Member
Asalamu alaykum warahmatullahi wabarakahu Brother, prayer can never loose power, instead people loose faith and become misguided, or people choose to overlook the rewards Allah Subana Wa Ta'ala or Allah Subana Wa Ta'ala is testing our patience or waiting for that person who has lost his connection in prayer and living a Muslim lifestyle to come back. Allah Subana Wa Ta'ala knows best each of us and what we can endure. May Allah Subana Wa Ta'ala empower the strength of love and prayer in those who have feel lost or disabled from the power and beautiful connection of prayer and worship
 

abjad

AlHamd Li'Laah
I don't know about what kind of power you are expecting but 5 times a day salat has fixed my night & day cycle, which is "powerful" enough for me

:jazaak:

talking about the 'nectar in other words the 'Taste'
 

abjad

AlHamd Li'Laah
(2:177) It is no virtue. That you turn your faces towards the east or the west, *175 but virtue is that one should sincerely believe in Allah and the Last Day and the Angels and the Book and the Prophets and, out of His love, spend of one's choice wealth for relatives and orphans, for the needy and the wayfarer, for beggars and for the ransom of slaves, and establish the Salat and pay the Zakat. And the virtuous are those who keep their pledges when they make them and show fortitude in hardships and adversity and in the struggle between the Truth and falsehood; such are the truthful people and such are the pious.
 

hayat84

I'm not what you believe
salam 'alikum,I don't think that the prayer has lost its power,instead,it's we(in general) who have lost our strenght.I'm nobody to judge,but there are some ones who say to be good believers but have some habitudes like the kafara,and when they pray,they hope to be better persons.What is surrounding us is tempting us to "forget" our goal.we muslims aim to Paradise and we need to demonstrate that we deserve it:eek:n the other hand there is the "beautiness" of Dajjal which tells us to delay the moment of prayer to another moment,until we feel tired and maybe do what it's commended with no much convinction,that's here that the prayer loses its power.
 
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